Celiac.com 11/03/2008 - I've always had trouble getting my kids to eat salads, so when I first saw this recipe I immediately wondered if this would be the one that "does the trick," and convinces them that salads are not just good for you, but can also taste good too. What I liked best about this recipe was how simple it was to prepare. Most chicken salad recipes that I've made involve cooking—and fortunately this one uses Valley Fresh Canned Chicken (which is gluten-free, the ingredients are very basic: white chicken, water and sea salt)—so it is ready-to-eat directly from the can, and does not require any cooking.

I tried out the canned chicken beforehand on a sandwich to make sure that I would like it. I simply drained it, then mixed it with gluten-free mayonnaise, diced pickles, onions and celery, and made a sandwich with gluten-free bread and found that is was very good—so I had high hopes for my "child-proof" salad.

It took me about 15 minutes to make the recipe, and another 10 minutes to chill the finished salad before serving it, so the total preparation time on the recipe of 25 minutes is accurate. The finished salad looks fun, and the first thing my kids said when they saw it was "fruit salad...yummy!" My three-year-old daughter's reaction to her first bite was "mmmmm," so I was half way there. My seven-year-old son is harder to please than my daughter, but since he thought that it was fruit salad he was willing to try it...this alone was a victory. And his reaction—two thumbs up!

So I finally "tricked" them into liking a salad—and I did it by using an excellent salad recipe that combines a range of healthy ingredients that include fresh fruits, vegetables, yogurt and Valley Fresh Canned Chicken. Oh, by the way, adults will like this recipe too! I would recommend this simple recipe to anyone who wants to eat a healthy salad (end even for those who are hard to please!). See the recipe and pictures below.

About Me

In 1994 I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which led me to create Celiac.com in 1995. I created this site for a single purpose: To help as many people as possible with celiac disease get diagnosed so they can begin to live happy, healthy gluten-free lives. Celiac.com was the first site on the Internet dedicated solely to celiac disease. In 1998 I founded The Gluten-Free Mall, Your Special Diet Superstore!, and I am the co-author of the book Cereal Killers, and founder and publisher of Journal of Gluten Sensitivity.

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I just discovered a whole new world in gluten free grocery shopping! Zeer.com (www.zeer.com) is an easy-to-use Web site that offers a service, called Zeer Select, to those on a gluten-free diet. Zeer Select is a database of over 30,000 mainstream products, each with its own gluten-free safety status. I’m talking about easy-to-find items that you can locate in a “regular” grocery store. I was able to simply search for the gluten-free status of a product by category, product name, or UPC code. If I searched for products which turned out not to be gluten-free it would recommend a similar product that was gluten-free.
One of my favorite features of Zeer.com was how each product was assigned a gluten-free safety status and symbol. The safety levels are based on the ingredients as well as the manufacturers’ statements. Not only are the products assigned their own gluten-free safety status, but the questionable or “not safe” ingredients are highlighted with links that further explain why particular ingredients are not considered gluten-free.
Each item also included detailed product information, including its ingredients and nutritional facts (and not just its gluten-free status). This is another great feature for those who are watching things like their sodium or carbohydrate intake, or those who might be looking for food items with extra fiber.
On top of all this, Zeer.com includes the manufacturer contact information in case you have any questions or concerns and need to speak directly to the company about the product. They are also continuously updating their site by adding or updating around 500 new products each week, and I appreciated that they list the date on which each product was last updated¬, knowing this really built up my confidence in this web site.
Whether you are new to a gluten-free diet or feel like your options are limited, I would highly recommend Zeer.com to help you prepare your next gluten-free shopping list!

During college I spent a year and a half living and studying in Tuebingen, Germany. This was before my diagnosis with celiac disease, and it was there that I really learned to know and love beer. After my diagnosis, and around the time I founded this Web site, I spent around two years trying to perfect a gluten-free beer made of sorghum and rice malts. I got close, but it never tasted quite right.
The same can be said of many of the gluten-free beers that are made without using barley, which, according to Germany's 1516 "Reinheitgebot," or German Beer Purity Law, can't even be called "beer" in Germany.
Omission Handcrafted Lager Beer, on the other hand, can be called real beer in Germany, as it is made using only traditional beer ingredients: malted barely, hops, yeast and water. How could it be safe for celiacs you ask? Because it is made using a process that removes the harmful gluten to below 10 ppm, and each batch is tested using an independent lab (utilizing the R5 Competitive ELISA test).
So now, thanks to Omission Beer, I can once again enjoy the flavor of a real German-style beer. This wonderful lager beer stands on its own against any other great lager beer, and even those who are not gluten-free wouldn't notice that it was "different."
Visit their site for more info: omissionbeer.com.

Note: Articles that appear in the "Gluten-Free Food Reviews" section of this site are paid advertisements. For more information about this see our Advertising Page.

I tried an Acai Berry Chia Bar today that is made by Health Warrior, and was pleasantly surprised. This chia bar is 100% natural and has a nice chewy texture that is also crunchy at the same time, which makes for an interesting combination.
The bar is packed with chia seeds to the point where it contains 1,000mg of Omega-3's, four grams of fiber, and three grams of protein...and yet contains only 100 calories and 15g of carbs!
For those of you who like to have a quick, healthy snack on hand, this bar is an excellent choice.
For more info visit their site.

This delicious cake gets its moistness from by having just the right amount of sweet butter, cream and milk mixed with pure vanilla beans and extract. The rum flavoring is noticeable, but not overpowering. The cakes are just the right size and make the perfect end to any meal.
Each package contains 6 two ounce servings and are vacuum packed for optimum freshness—­no refrigeration required. If you haven't had any gluten-free rum cake lately, we definitely recommend you give these a try.
For more information, check out their website, and enjoy the music while you are browsing!

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TDZ, that is interesting that you mention weed-eating as coinciding with the start of your husband's rash, as about 12 years ago I had a possibly similar experience. It was in the spring (meaning late May here in SC Alaska), and I was cutting the lawn. Rather than bagging up all the lawn clippings, I would just take the filled bag off the mower, walk into the woods behind the house, and pull out the clippings with my hand and then scatter them around (so that they didn't just all rot and feste

Not a clue, other than normal eating. He ate a fair amount of bread, and pasta and pizza and such. Right before the massive outbreak in November, there was a peppermint/chocolate-drizzled popcorn that I got at Walmart, and it gave both of us horrible diarrhea, and within a few days he was covered with more rash than ever before. Might have been unrelated, but it's the only unusual thing that times out right for any causality. Otherwise, he wasn't eating anything different.
The first thing t

Well, TDZ, I certainly hope that your husband is able to get some Dapsone to quickly ameliorate his DH (and that it does not have too many adverse effects on him, either).
It sounds like your husband's DH is worse than mine ever was, so I can only imagine the ongoing agony that he's been dealing with. To call DH "just an itch" would be like calling am amputation "just a scratch", i.e., probably nobody who has not experienced it can imagine how frustrating, distracting, maddening and depre